Cruas Nuclear Power Plant

Cruas Nuclear Power Plant
Cruas Nuclear Power Plant
Location of Cruas Nuclear Power Plant
Official name	Centrale Nucléaire de Cruas
Country	France
Location	Cruas and Meysse, Ardèche
Coordinates	44°37′59″N 4°45′24″E / 44.63306°N 4.75667°E / 44.63306; 4.75667Coordinates: 44°37′59″N 4°45′24″E / 44.63306°N 4.75667°E / 44.63306; 4.75667
Status	Operational
Construction began	1978
Commission date	April 29, 1983 (April 29, 1983)
Operator(s)	EDF
Constructor(s)	Campenon-Bernard
Reactor information
Reactors operational	4 x 956 MW
Reactor type(s)	PWR
Reactor supplier(s)	Framatome
Turbine information
Manufacturer(s)	Alstom
Power generation information
Installed capacity	3,824 MW
Annual generation	23,241 GW·h
Net generation	513,867 GW·h
Website www.edf.com
As of 10 November 2010

The Cruas Nuclear Power Station is a Nuclear power plant located in Cruas and Meysse communes, Ardèche next to the Rhône River in France. The site is 35km north of Tricastin Nuclear Power Center and near the town of Montélimar.

The site contains 4 pressurized water reactors of 900 MW each, totaling 3600 MW total. The construction began in 1978, the reactors were built between 1983 and 1984.

The power station accounts for 4 to 5% of the electric energy production in France, and 40% of the annual usage by the Rhone-Alps area. The site employs about 1,200 workers and has an area of 148 hectares. Cooling water comes from the Rhône river.

Incidents

On 1 December 2009 reactor 4 was shut down after vegetation blocked the intake of the cooling system. The nuclear safety authority Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (ASN) classified the incident as level 2 on the International Nuclear Event Scale ^[1][2][3]

Mural

Cooling tower mural on right. art by Jean-Marie Pierret

In 1991 it was decided by the owners of the plant to carry out a Mural project on the cooling towers focusing on the topic of ecology. Author of the mural on the Tignes dam, Jean-Marie Pierret was selected to design the painting, 9 mountaineers helped to actually paint the structure. The painting reflects the basics of Water and Air and is titled Aquarius, and was inaugurated in 2005. It took 8,000 working hours and 4,000 liters of paint to complete the project.

References

1. ^ "Emergency at French nuclear power plant". Radio France Internationale. 2009-12-02. http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/120/article_6052.asp. Retrieved 2009-12-04. 
2. ^ "Centrale nucléaire de Cruas arrêt à titre préventid de l'unité de procduction n°4" (in french) (PDF). Electricité de France. 2009-12-02. http://energies.edf.com/fichiers/fckeditor/File/091202%20CP%20Cruas%20N1%20EDF.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-04. 
3. ^ Evangelia Petit (2009-12-02). "Levée du plan d'urgence interne à la centrale nucléaire de Cruas (Ardèche)" (in french). Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire. http://www.asn.fr/index.php/S-informer/Actualites/2009/Levee-du-plan-d-urgence-interne-a-la-centrale-nucleaire-de-Cruas-Ardeche. Retrieved 2009-12-04.